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Every year some listing comes out that shows what Americans search for. Often times the searches are presented daily and weekly and quite often the lists rank celebrities especially highly, as well as current events. Yahoo Japan apparently keeps track of their search rankings too and, via TokyoHive.com, has just released their list of top searches for the year by category. Since the listed items and categories are many, I will merely hit what I believe to be the highlights. Most of them aren’t surprising by any means; however, I’ll go into them nonetheless.

For “Names” and “Images” the list is filled with various celebrities with AKB48 taking the lead. Even though that’s the result I expected for both categories, apparently they beat out last year’s top band Arashi. One Piece holds the number one spot for Anime/Game Searches, which is also not surprising at all considering how many records One Piece has broken this past year. In the category of TV Show/Dramas, Ryomaden took number one, while the K-Drama IRIS, to my surprise, takes the number five spot. Lastly, and perhaps most surprising to me, is that YouTube took the number one search overall. YouTube apparently took number one last year though, which means that perhaps a lot of Japanese people don’t bookmark YouTube as opposed to sites like Nico Nico Douga which came in seventh? Regardless much like Americans top searches we are led by out interest in entertainment, so that which is most popular at the moiment, for all search rankings, is understandably pushed to the top.

My entrance into J-Rock, in particular Visual Kei, was dominated by many X-Japan listening sessions. However, while X-Japan is often credited as the ‘fathers of Visual Kei’, they certainly aren’t the only artist to take Japan, and large parts of the world, by storm. Luna Sea is such a band, and thanks to varying forces they have debuted in the US! Of course Luna Sea played in L.A., a city that is about as far as one could be from where I live, but admittedly a city that is more than most likely to be receptive to their music. I can only hope that this concert not only leads to an extended tour by Luna Sea in the US, but that more and more J-Rock artists will continue the trend that Dir en Grey, X-Japan, and many other artists have started by touring more and more in the US and around the world.

3. Flaming Zombooka 2

During my previous tenure as a Helpdesk Technician, I discovered the wonderful world of Kongregate.com. Kongregate is an awesome repository for online games, some that are good, some that are meh, and many that are awesome. Flaming Zombooka 2 is awesome! Did you ever play a game where you and an opponent, human or computer, would have two cannons on opposing hills and you would shoot back and forth? Well imagine if instead of a cannon you were a man with a bazooka, and instead of an opposing cannon you faced zombies. This concept is similar to those tower destruction games I also see and, as many of them are, pack enough entertainment for hours of fun. Flaming Zombooka 2 is nearly as much about planning and plotting as it is about killing zombies, because with every level there is an added challenge, such as bazooka immune zombies, switching platforms, and tethered chainsaws. Since it’s free, and I’d imagine you’ll have a little more time around the holidays, you should really sign-up for Kongregate (for free), so you can get the achievements, and play Flaming Zombooka 2.